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Audit: Treasury's review of Solyndra 'rushed'

‘The train really has left the station on this deal,’ one internal Treasury email said. | AP Photo

“We found that Treasury did perform a consultation on the terms and conditions of the Solyndra loan guarantee,” says the audit report. “However, whether that consultation met the intent of the applicable law and regulation is not clear because Treasury’s consultative role was not sufficiently defined, the consultation that did occur was rushed, and no documentation was retained as to how Treasury’s serious concerns with the loan were addressed.”

On the other hand, the report says, “Treasury officials told us that this [one-day] time period was sufficient in the case of its review of the Solyndra loan guarantee. ”

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Treasury was also not consulted on DOE's February 2011 restructuring of the loan guarantee, which has since drawn criticism for allowing some private investors to be repaid ahead of the government if Solyndra went under.

Among other steps, the IG recommended that Treasury “work with DOE to establish a common understanding of what would be considered a deviation that would constitute a substantial change in the financial terms and conditions of a loan guarantee and require Treasury’s consultation.”

In a response to POLITICO, the Energy Department said Wednesday that the Solyndra loan guarantee received ample review before being approved.

"The Treasury Department's Inspector General report makes clear that Treasury Department officials believed they had enough time to evaluate the terms,” DOE said in a statement. “The simple fact is that the review was exhaustive — involving technical, legal and financial experts from three federal agencies for more than 1,000 days spanning two administrations.”

This article first appeared on POLITICO Pro at 9:53 a.m. on April 4, 2012.

After much thought about my absolute Conservative views vs the liberal democrat party and obama I have come to the conclusion that the real blame for the problems of this country rests solely on the national media. When the primary information outlets of this country declined to provide the American citizen with a clear view of who obama is and who the democrat party is the national media became the enablers of the corruption and abuse of power that is obama and the democrats. Our country needs a real engaged national media to protect our freedoms and not to join those who wish to take those freedoms away. THE NATIONAL MEDIA FAILURE TO PERFORM IN DEFENSE OF THIS COUNTRY, ITS FREEDOMS, VALUES, AND LAWS IS WHY OUR COUNTRY'S VERY EXISTENCE IS AT RISK.

As soon as Republicans tell me where my trillions of dollars fighting the so-called "war on terror" have gone, or tell me why we give billions of dollars to oil companies and Israel, then I'll join them with my pitchfork in hand, or at least pretend to care about Solyndra.

As soon as Republicans tell me where my trillions of dollars fighting the so-called "war on terror" have gone, or tell me why we give billions of dollars to oil companies and Israel, then I'll join them with my pitchfork in hand, or at least pretend to care about Solyndra.